Man and Wife was written by Wilkie Collins and it is the second of his novels in which social questions give the main momentum of the plot. This novel was printed in 1870, dedicated to Frederick and Nina Lehmann with whom Collins remained during much of its compilation. Their musical proficiency on the violin and piano appear in the characters of Julius Delamayn and his wife. The social issue which manages the plot is the state of Scots marriage law, at the time the novel was written, any couple who were legally entitled to marry and who affirmed that they were married, either before witnesses or in writing, were regarded in Scotland as being legally married. Man and Wife strikes both Irish and Scottish marriage laws as well as asserting the case for a Married Woman's Property Act. It analyses the inferior position of women in 18th century UK and the issue of irregular marriages in Scotland. The book also works against the craze of atheleticism, as leading to moral and physical corruption, expressed in the villain, Geoffery Delamayn. This novel is about the discrepancies of the marriage laws in 19th century Britain and about the social question of the present rage for muscular exercises on the health and ethics of the growing generation of Englishmen. Man and Wife is very funny and sarcastic.
